Thursday, 30 May 2013

Navy eyes high-tech options for future aircraft carriers

The Indian
Navy --- one of just nine navies that operate aircraft carriers --- is thinking
high-tech in planning its second indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vishal. The
admirals are deciding whether INS Vishal, still only a concept, should launch
aircraft from its deck using a technology so advanced that it is not yet in
service anywhere: the Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS).

Getting a
fully loaded combat aircraft airborne off a short, 200-metre-long deck is a key
challenge in aircraft carrier operations. The INS Viraat, currently India’s
only aircraft carrier, uses Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) since
its Harrier “jump-jets” take off and land almost like helicopters. INS
Vikramaditya, which Russia will deliver this year, uses Short Take Off But
Arrested Recovery (STOBAR). The Vikramaditya’s MiG-29K fighters will fly off an
inclined ramp called a “ski-jump”; and land with the help of arrester wires
laid across the deck, which snag on a hook on the fighter’s tail, literally
dragging it to a halt. This system will also be used on the first indigenous
aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, which Cochin Shipyard plans to deliver by 2017.

But INS
Vishal, which will follow the Vikrant, might employ a third technique --- Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery, or
CATOBAR. Perfected by the US Navy since World War II, this has a steam-driven
piston system along the flight deck “catapulting” the aircraft to 200
kilometres per hour, fast enough to get airborne. With greater steam pressure,
significantly heavier aircraft can be launched. US Navy carriers launch the
E-2D Hawkeye, a lumbering Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft that scans
airspace over hundreds of kilometres.

EMALS, the new-generation
catapult that the Indian Navy is evaluating, uses a powerful electro-magnetic field
instead of steam. Developed by General Atomics, America’s largest privately
held defence contractor, EMALS has been chosen by the US Department of Defence for
its new-generation aircraft carriers. The first EMALS-equipped carrier, the USS
Gerald R Ford, will enter service by 2016.

In Delhi Last
Thursday, General Atomics briefed thirty Indian Navy captains and admirals on
EMALS. Scott Forney III, the senior General Atomics official who conducted the
briefing, told Business Standard that tight US controls over this guarded
technology required special permission from Washington for sharing technical
details of EMALS with India.

Senior
Indian naval planners tell Business Standard that INS Vikrant, India’s next 40,000
tonne aircraft carrier, will use STOBAR to operate its complement of MiG-29K
and Tejas light fighters. But Vikrant’s successor, the 65,000 tonne INS Vishal
could well be a CATOBAR carrier that launches larger and more diverse aircraft.

“While
current fighters like the MiG-29K can operate with STOBAR systems, our options
will increase with CATOBAR. We could operate heavier fighters, AEW aircraft and,
crucially, UCAVs (unmanned combat air vehicles). A UCAV would require a CATOBAR
system for launch,” says one admiral.

The navy is
closely following UCAV development in India and abroad. On May 14, the X-47B
UCAV that Northrop Grumman is developing for the US Navy became the first UCAV
to be catapulted off an aircraft carrier, the USS George HW Bush.

Naval
planners believe that, with INS Vishal likely to enter service in the early 2020s,
they should plan on operating UCAVs from that carrier, as well as an AEW
aircraft, and medium and light fighters.

“We could greatly expand our mission envelope with UCAVs, using
the pilotless aircraft for high risk reconnaissance and SEAD (suppression of
enemy air defences). Mid-air refueling would let us keep UCAVs on mission for
24-36 hours continuously, since pilot fatigue would not be a factor,” says a
naval planner.

General
Atomics has emphasized the EMALS’ ability to launch multiple aircraft. It has
told the navy that EMALS causes less wear and tear on carrier-launched aircraft
since electric power can be delivered more accurately than steam. It also
launches aircraft quicker; requires less personnel to operate; and its high
acceleration allows launches in still conditions, when STOBAR aircraft
carriers must sail at 20-30 knots to generate “wind-over-deck,” needed to
create the lift required for take off.

“We have completed 134 test launches across five classes of
aircraft, including the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter; the F/A-18E Super Hornet;
the C-2A Greyhound (delivery aircraft); the T-45 Goshawk trainer; and the E-2D
Advanced Hawkeye,” Forney briefed the navy.

While the
navy is impressed by the EMALS’ capabilities, there is apprehension that buying
it may prove difficult. It would be a “single-vendor” procurement of a system
that is untested in operational service, making it hard to validate General
Atomics’ claim of being cheaper in the long term.

But
industry watchers point out that cutting-edge equipment like EMALS is what New
Delhi wants from US-India defense relations. “The EMALS enhances India’s strategic
capability. If New Delhi deems this a priority for collaboration, the US might
well sanction the release of this technology,” says Manohar Thyagaraj, of the
Observer Research Foundation.

FYI: US Navy will be phasing out the CATOBAR system in favour of an electro-magnetic system(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_Aircraft_Launch_System). So Indian Navy is will be "upgrading" to a 50-year old outdated system 10 years from now and using it for 30+ years. Basically using a design for 100+ years.